As a theology student in the mid '80's I found Carson a voice in the wilderness when it came to guidance through the commentary jungle and now 30 years on am very happy to report that this edition still does a job worth doing well and not without a generous smattering of humour.

It is pretty much comprehensive on the commentary front and the only omission I could find was McHugh's ICC commentary on John 1 - 4.

Whether it is because of publisher's restrictions on space or not he often mentions that he is limiting himself to certain titles concerning works relating to NT books but again he seems pretty comprehensive to me.

Many a time he will mention that a particular commentary is strong in a particular area, eg the history of exegesis of the book in question, and this enables one to pick commentaries that complement one another or on the other hand avoid buying two commentaries that do pretty much the same job. This aspect is probably the strongest feature of the book.

When reading him it helps to be aware that

A) he is no great lover of the WBC series and its tautological format

B) that he mentions several pre-war commentaries without explaining why they are worth having (and in my experience they invariably are, eg Rawlinson, Rackham or Westcott) and

C) he rarely explains why a particular commentary was so seminal or deemed important at the time of its release OR explains its fall from favour - an aspect I would find helpful but not exactly necessary.

Having read his book with interest I was surprised to see that the likes of Vermes, Morton Smith and E P Sanders get barely a mention - a reflection of how often NT commentaries are hermetically sealed from the issues of the day? Or how quickly they had fallen from favour?

These are observations and not criticisms from someone who would happily pay extra for the next edition to be a hundred pages longer so as to learn about commentaries in the context of what was going on in the theological world around them.

D.A. Carson' Reviews of New Testament Commentaries has been providing a very useful service for many years. He is an evangelical who highlights strengths of non-evangelical commentaries. His internal rating system is very helpful and his rating of individual commentaries and series is especially useful. I am looking forward to the release of the 7th edition which is due out later this year.

I have found that using Carson (NT) and Longman (OT) along with Glynn's Commentary and Reference Survey is extremely helpful in finding the best commentaries for my purpose for any particular book of the Bible. "In a multitude of Counselors there is safety." With three opinions drawn from many other opinions in reviews in journals, etc.; you really do (de facto) have a multitude of counselors. Of course, this does not eliminate the need to think, occasionally look a particular commentary up on the internet and read reviews or search the table of contents; and of course it does not eliminate the need for God's guidance; but this is a great tool to use, and God is not above using seemingly natural means to accomplish his purposes and lead us. This is a tool He has provided to help us to diligently search for other counselors (commentaries) after studying the Bible ourselves- "in a multitude of counselors there is safety"

I would recommend this book to anyone before buying New Testament commentaries because it addresses some of the issues within the commentaries treatment of the text. It tells if the original language is dealt with and where the weaknesses lie. A very comprehensive and thorough work, recommended to me by the New Testament department at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.